The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-01-20
- - = . - :
* THE HABITS OF ELK.


what Western Hunter Has Observed
N Cow Ell and Cali.
The habits Of ak are similar to those Of
deer, but they are much larger animals.
Cows that are IN good condition dress
about $50 pounds, and tat bulls dress
about $50 pounds. have heard of bulls
that dressed 600 pounds, but never saw
so large an elk, and have seen hundreds
Of them. !, In September the calves dress
from so to 100 pounds. Their meat is ten
der, but tasteless and veal-dke. A fat 3
year-old elk heifer is probably the best
meat on earth, at least think 50. The
COWS are good eating, but inferior to black
tailed deer. The bulls are rather tough at
all times, and their meat Is unworthy Of
being cooked during the rutting season.
Shortly after the rutting season the
necks Of the full antlered bulls begin to
swell and to grow hard. Then 1t requires
an exceedingly hard shooting rifle to drive
Q ball through their necks. saw, while
on this hunt, four bulls shot low down on
the neck, aud In; no instance did the ball
pass through, and in no case did IL strike
the neck bone In all instances tt lodged
under the skin on the opposite side from
the hunter We used AGO Winchesters,
the latter figures expressing the number
ball. This rifle viii throw ball through
side, but it will not carry through an elk's
neck. .,,...t -. T.. s-,.......'.,.
Bull elk drop their antlers In January
generally, but this, suppose, depends on
the latitude in which they live. A bull is
full antlered when he II years old, then
there are six prongs on each antler. Some
times the nntlers s'sport, /" al corn does,
and the horns take queer shapes. This is
q very serious disaster to the elk, as he
cannot eight effectively with .tsported"
antlers, and he Is driven out Of the band.
] have o set Of antlers, s'sports, !" which
have thirteen prones on each horn. The
bull that wore these heavy, useless ant
lers spent the season In seclusion. He
could not fight.
One OF the most remarkable speetaclcs
In the pine clad highlands is to see Q full
ant1ered bull elk trot at speed through a
forest where the trees stand SO thickly
that horse has to slowly pick its way.
have frequently seen an elk bull, whose
spread Of antiers was at least four feet,
dash at full speed through o belt of tim
Der where could not follow on horse
back, because the trees were too close to-
gether, and he did not strike O tree with
his antlers. >.,:.se 10 .-.s-s.. -. t.s~. 20.
Whom q cow elk Is killed her calf win
run off to hide In the woods. But It will
frequently return to ths place where its
mother sfel, and it often pays for its
hungry search with its life. I shot q
fat COW one morning, and saw two calves
not far from her. When the rifle
cracked the calves disappeared. That
night I mentioned the fact of the calves
running or to my comrade. He seid
"If you will 60 there tomorrow morn
ing you will probably find both of the
calves shopping around in the woods
near the: dead COW. They will DO hungry
by that time, and they will return to
their dead mother to get q drink Of
milk The two calves will just make out
our wagon load Of meat. You had bet
ter gotand kill them" -,
4 Invent back the next morning. The two
beautiful, graceful calves stood by their
dead mother trying to make her rise.
Evidently they were hungry and impa-
tient for their breakfast. They would
push her with their black noses or strike
her sharply with their forefeet II was a
pitiful sight, and ] felt like murderer,
and did not have the heart to kill the
calves. drove them away, and when my
COuiIduc Cttific Wy Will tlo puck dtliludiS
told him my rifle did not 20 of, which
was true. For four weeks walked daily
in the forest To-day hunting deer. to-
morrow shooting grouse, the next day
shoating elk. stukied the habits of the
game 'animals under the intelligent super
vision of my comrade, who had lived
among them for years, and whose living,
in great measure, depended on his being
able to kill game at the proper season.
We shot many animals. The hunt. was
almost q slaughter. But we lost no meat;
none was used to bait bears, none thrown
away. Every pound that we did not eat
was carefully saved and sold. The meat
was packed on horses backs for from five
to ten. miles through dense green timber,
over burned lands and across fallen tim
Der. From there It was hauled to Lara
mic, Fort Collins and Rawlings for sale,
and the money obtained for 1t was cx-
pended for provisions. The trails on
which we entered or left the elk range
were purposely blind trails, and unknown
to other persons.-Cor. New York Sun.